Manufacturing of Glass

WESTMEAD
INTERBATIONAL SCHOOL
Methods, Processes, and Equipment involved

in Manufacturing
(GLASS)
BY: Cabral, Merry Ann M.
Industrial Processes
WESTMEAD INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL
COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
 Basics
 Types of Glass
 Manufacturing Processes
 Methods
 Different Ways of Fabrication
 Tools of Modern Glass Blowing
What is Glass?
 Super cooled Liquid
 a hard synthetic material, which is produced by
cooling melt and is in an amorphous (non-
crystalline) solid state (Bek 2008, 20).
 a product of melting silicon dioxide with other
oxide alloys and is hard and fragile at room
temperature.
What is Glass Made of?

 Sand – 70%
 Soda Ash – 15%
 Limestone – 10%
Types of Glass
 Soda Glass – or soft glass is easily fusible and used for window
glass and bottles.
 Pyrex Glass - used for laboratory glass ware.
 Quartz Glass – used in electrical bulbs and optical instruments.
 Flint Glass – used in optics.
 Hard Glass – fuses with difficulty and it is resistant to water and
acids. It is used for hard apparatus.
 Borosilicate Glass – low expansion and is resistant to shock and
chemicals. It is used for baking dishes, laboratory glassware and
pipelines.
Glass Manufacturing Process
1. Raw Materials
 71% silica (sand)
 14% sodium in the form of sodium carbonate (soda ash)
 11% calcium in the form of limestone
 4% other ingredients, including colorants.
 Cullet-broken glass, either scrap from the manufacturing
process or from recycling centers, bottle banks or kerbside
collection systems.
2. Preparation of Batch
 The raw materials, cullet and de-colourizer are finely powdered in
grinding machines.
 The mixing of these materials is carried out in mixing machines
until a uniform mixture (batch or frit) is obtained.
3. Melting in Furnace
 The mixture of raw materials and cullet is melted continuously in
furnaces, heated to a temperature of around 3,180° F.
 It takes around 24 hours for the raw materials entering the furnace
to be converted into glass.
 The molten glass is carried through a series of distribution channels
- known as forehearths - to the forming machines.
 At the end of the forehearths, the glass flow is cut into gobs whose
weight, shape and temperature are precisely controlled.
 The batch is melted either in a pot furnace or in a tank furnace.
Pot Furnace
 A pot is a vessel made of fire-clay.
 This process resembles the crucible
steel process.
 The charging and collecting doors
are kept projecting outside.
 The melting of glass by pot furnace is
an intermittent process.
Tank Furnace
 This furnace resembles the reverberatory furnace adopted for puddling of the
wrought-iron
 It is constructed with reinforced masonry.
 This is a continuous process
4. Forming
Forming generally takes place in two stages:
 The gob is transformed by pressing or blowing into an
intermediate hollow pocket shape, with the opening fully formed.
 A mechanical arm then transfers this partially formed shape over
to a finishing mold for blowing into the final shape of the bottle or
jar. The finished glass object is then taken out of the finish mold by
tongs and held briefly over a cooling plate, before being conveyed
away.
5. Annealing
 This process takes between 30 minutes and two hours.
To make the bottles and jars more resistant to scratches, they are usually
treated with a surface coating applied when they are still hot, before
entering the lehr, with a complementary coating when cooled at the
lehr exit.
Two Methods of Annealing

 Flue Treatment - In this method, a long flue is provided and it is
constructed in such a way that there is gradual decrease in temperature
from one end of flue to the other. The red-hot articles of glass are
allowed to enter at the hot end of flue and they are slowly moved on
travelling bands. They become cool when they reach the cool end of
flue.
 Oven Treatment - In this method, the red-hot glass articles are placed
in ovens in which arrangement is made to control the temperature.
After articles are placed in the ovens, the temperature is slowly brought
down.
6. Quality Inspection Machine

 To ensure the quality of our products, we check every item we
make using a range of specialized equipment, using mechanical,
video and light beam technology.
 In particular, these check the neck area (for good closure), the
dimensions, glass thickness and appearance.
7. Shipping
 Once a pallet of bottles, packs or cases is complete, it is totally encased
in a plastic wrapper which protects the Verallia products during handling
and storage.
 The bottles and jars are then shipped out, to be filled or personalized
using a number of decorative processes
Methods
The Blow & Blow Method
The Press and Blow Method
Different Ways of Fabrication

 Blowing
 Casting
 Drawing
 Pressing
 Rolling
 Spinning.
Blowing
 For this purpose, a blow-pipe is used. Its diameter is about 12 mm
and its length is about 1.80 m. One end of the blow-pipe is dipped
in the molten mass of glass and a lump of about 50 N weight is
taken out. This lump of glass will then lengthen to some extent by
its own weight.
Casting
 The molten glass is poured in moulds and it is allowed to cool
down slowly.
 The large pieces of glass of simple design can be prepared by
this method.
Drawing
 An iron bar is dipped sideways in the molten mass of glass. It is
lifted up horizontally and in doing so, it catches up a sheet of
molten glass. This sheet is then allowed to pass over a large
rotating roller. The roller helps the molten glass to spread in the
form of a thin sheet.
Pressing
 In this process, the molten glass is pressed into moulds.
 This process is adopted for ornamental articles, hollow glass
articles etc.
Rolling
 In one method, the molten mass of glass is passed between heavy
iron rollers and flat glass plate of uniform thickness is obtained.
 In another method, the molten mass of glass is poured on a flat
iron casting table and it is then turned flat with the aid of a heavy
iron roller.
Spinning
 In this process, the molten glass is spin at high speed by a machine
to form very fine glass fibres.
Tools of Modern Glass Blowing

 Blowpipe - The now steel pipe that is used to gather glass on one end and blow from
the other.
 Marver - Traditionally a flat slab of marble it is now mostly steel and is used to roll
the glass.
 The Bench - This the glassblower work station and consists of a place to sit, a place
for all the tools and two rails to roll the pipe on while working.
 Blocks - They look like ladles and are used to shape and cool the glass during early
stages of working.
 Jacks - They look like large tweezers and are used and are more or less the fingers of
the glassmith. How well a glassmith handles this tool is a way to judge the skill level.
 Paddles - These are usually flat pieces of wood or graphite and are used to make the
flat ends of the glass articles.
 Straight Sheers - They are used for linear cutting the glass and look like big scissors.
 Diamond Sheers - This is a blade when partially open form a diamond shape that is
used for cutting off masses of glass.

Manufacturing of Glass

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Manufacturing of Glass

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WESTMEAD

Methods, Processes, and Equipment involved

BY: Cabral, Merry Ann M.

What is Glass Made of?

Glass Manufacturing Process

Two Methods of Annealing

6. Quality Inspection Machine

The Blow & Blow Method

The Press and Blow Method

Different Ways of Fabrication

Tools of Modern Glass Blowing

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